Hope For Atonement
by Jayjay1665
Summary: AJ killed Marlon. But he deserved it right? What he did was wrong and this is what he deserved. Now Clementine is put into a tough situation. She needs to explain the difference between murder and killing in self defense. AJ thinks the situation is hopeless but, how can she convince him that not all hope is lost and there's still a way he can make amends with everyone?


Clementine hurried AJ into the dorm room. She shut the door slowly, silently ambled to her bed, and sat down.

_Calm down, Clem, calm down. You've seen things just as bad as this before. _

But she knew very well it wasn't so much the incident that was bothering her. Living in an apocalyptic world filled with undead roaming the streets will leave anyone with horrid memories that would rather be forgotten. What troubled her so was the person who initiated the incident. And that same person was sitting just a few feet away from her. She hesitantly looked up at AJ. He was sitting at the desk in the corner of the room twiddling a colored pencil in his hands. He knew she was staring at him but, he refused to make eye contact. She directed her gaze to the ground once more. The atmosphere was tense. Both of them wanted to speak, but neither one knew how to begin the conversation that needed to be had. Clementine decided she should go first. _After all_, she thought, _AJ probably doesn't fully understand why what he did was wrong. _She took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. She directed her gaze over at AJ.

"AJ?" she began

AJ stopped fidgeting with the pencil, but kept his gaze on it.

"Yeah?" he said quietly.

What was she supposed to say now? She looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. What would Lee do? She looked back at AJ and spoke again.

"Are you alright?"

AJ remained silent for a moment then spoke again, this time looking straight ahead at the wall

"I…shot Marlon."

Clementine said nothing for a moment, letting the gravity of the worlds settle on both of them. It was true. AJ had shot him. From behind. Straight through the skull. Though she wasn't looking at them she could feel everyone's horrified stares Clementine was sure that would be a moment in her life she could never forget. She was literally in front of him. She could still feel the sensation of his warm blood splattering on her face. In fact…

She reached up and touched her face to her cheek the pulled it away. Yep. It was still there. His blood. On her face. Because of AJ.

"B-but I was trying to protect you!"

Clementine head snapped up at AJ's sudden outburst. He stood up out of the chair and paced around the room.

"He had my gun pointed at you! He was gonna shoot you! Marlon started this! He killed Brody first! He- he deserved to die!"

"AJ.."

"She was completely innocent and he killed her! A-and he sold Tenn's sisters to the raiders! He was a bad guy and did bad things to other people!

AJ stopped in his tracks and sighed.

"How could he do things like that?" He asked his anger turning into sadness.

Clementine paused for a moment. All of what AJ said was also true. The reason Marlon killed Brody was because she told Clementine what he had done. She remembered when she found out about all this. She had heard Brody and Marlon arguing and went to investigate. When she found them in the basement, Brody had informed her what Marlon had been hiding. Last year, Marlon and Brody went hunting with two twin girls named Sophie and Minerva. While hunting, the four encountered raiders who were planning on going to their base and kidnapping all the kids so they could fight in the war they were having against another settlement. Marlon gave up Sophie and Minerva in exchange for the safety of the rest of the kids and made Brody swear she wouldn't tell anyone what had conspired. Instead, they told everyone the twins were killed by walkers.

Once Brody told, Marlon became enraged and hit her forcibly in the head with the flashlight he was holding. The strike to the head killed her shortly after. Marlon immediately felt guilty and tried to apologize and help her. With her dying breath, Brody told Clementine that if the raiders come back, Marlon was going to sell her and AJ to them, just as he did with twins.

That's when Marlon ran out of the basement and tried to pin Brody's death on Clementine. Luckily, with the help of Louis, Violet, Aasim and the others, she was able to come out as innocent. Marlon was exceedingly remorseful for what he did and tried to convince the others to let him leave so he could be forgotten.

"Just let me become a bad memory." He pleaded.

But before Clementine could even respond with his request, AJ shot him dead. Shot him when he was no longer a threat.

Clementine motioned for AJ to sit next to her. He obeyed silently and joined her on the bed. She wrapped her arm him to provide some comfort to the discouraged boy. He rested his head on her shoulder. She tilted her head slightly so her cheek could rest on the top of his head.

"Brody said he was scared. I guess he didn't see any other option. He sacrificed two kids in order to save the others. I can see how he might've thought he was doing the right thing. But if he was a real leader, he would've sacrificed himself instead of Tenn's sisters."

AJ looked up at Clementine.

"So, it was a good thing I shot him?"

"No, AJ, it wasn't." she sighed, "When you shot him, he was no longer a threat. If you kill someone when they're no longer threat, that's murder."

AJ looked down and concentrated his gaze on his hands.

"So that means I'm…a murderer?" he questioned in a quiet voice.

"Yes." Clementine responded with some difficulty.

AJ was quiet for a long moment after that. He was a murderer. No better than those monsters wandering aimlessly outside. No better than Marlon. He saw how everyone looked at him after what he did. Tennessee, Rosie, and Willy were fearful, Omar and Aasim looked at him with disdain, and Louis and Mitch glared at him with anger. There's no way they would let him and Clem stay at the camp after what he did. There's no way Louis and Tenn would want to be his friends anymore. There was nothing he could do. Clem and him would have to live on the road again, never staying in the same place or too long. God knows when they would find a steady place to live again. This was the closes things he's ever had to a home. Their small chance at having shelter, consistent food, friends, and maybe even family was gone. And it was all his fault. He wanted nothing more than to take it all back. But he couldn't.

Tears slid down AJ's face and unto Clementine's hand. She looked at the young boy with sympathy and gingerly wiped the remaining tears from his face as a mother would with a child.

"You know, AJ, there's still a way we can fix this."

AJ gave her an incredulous look. Marlon was dead. The damage was done. How could the possibly fix this?

"How?"

Clementine looked down at him with a gentle expression.

"Are you sorry for what you did to Marlon?"

AJ thought for a moment. He was sorry. Looking back at the situation, it had calmed down considerately before his brash decision. There wasn't as much yelling and arguing. And Marlon had dropped the gun. If he was going to hurt anyone, he would've kept the gun in his hands, right? He wouldn't go against eight kids with no back up or no weapon. Clem was right. Marlon wasn't a threat.

He looked up at Clementine with sorrowful eyes

"Yeah. I really am."

"Good. That's the first step. I'm going to help you atone."

"Atone?"

"Yeah. It means make up for what you did wrong. We're gonna make it alright with the others. It might be hard, but we can do it." She stated as she gave him a hopeful smile.

AJ mirrored the expression with a new-found strength.

"Yeah. that sounds good. I'm gonna do my best to make it up to the others. No matter how long it takes or how hard it is, I'm gonna do it" AJ declared.

Clementine gave him a proud smile.

"I'm glad to hear that, AJ. I'm proud of you."

He wrapped his arms around her in a hug and, she returned the gesture.

Now we should get some rest." She said laying down on the bed.

AJ nodded his head in agreement. He laid down beside her and closed his eyes. She was about to do the same until AJ said one more thing.

"I love you, Clem."

Clementine's eyes wandered down to AJ. A shaky smile tugged at her lips and her eyes watered slightly as she gave AJ a small kiss on the head.

"I love you back, Goofball."

AJ smiled softly. Although he had formerly denounced the nickname, it made him happy to hear Clementine call him that again. Even though the events from that day were still fresh in his mind, he drifted off into a sound sleep with hope for the oncoming day.

With hope for atonement.


End file.
